Staff Reports
Californians and Washingtonians, usually donning their “I love kale” shirts, have surprised everyone by rejecting measures to ban natural gas. This could lead one to believe that even the most dedicated environmentalists don’t want to part ways with their beloved gas stoves, which admittedly is quite a revelation in the land of plant-based everything. A glimmer of common sense emerged in Berkeley, California, the original birthplace of the natural gas ban for new construction, as voters turned down a proposal to tax big gas consumers. Perhaps they wanted to keep their gas options open, or maybe they just can’t bear the thought of microwave dinners.
Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration is desperately scrambling to keep the natural gas industry under control. In an ironic twist of fate, Biden’s Energy Department is rushing to solidify a ban on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits, despite voters in traditionally high-profile Democratic areas rejecting anti-fossil fuel initiatives. This might strike some as a classic case of “What do voters know?”—as if the administration believes it knows better than the folks living in these blue strongholds.
Voters shoot down natural gas bans in Harris strongholds, but Biden rushes to secure LNG pause https://t.co/H3dPvkgfAm
— Just the News (@JustTheNews) November 12, 2024
In Washington state, where Governor Jay Inslee clearly missed the memo about voter sentiment, residents decided to slap a big, resounding ‘no’ to a law that forced towns to kick natural gas to the curb for a more electric future. Inslee’s reaction? To threaten a court battle against a clear demonstration of grassroots democracy. It’s almost poetic: as voters push back against regulations they didn’t want in the first place, their enlightened governor still believes he can trample on the voters’ choice with legal loopholes.
Even the Sierra Club, giddy with excitement over its push for fossil fuel bans, was left fuming after the Ninth Circuit Court blew the whistle on its natural gas dreams. Now, they can only sit back and watch as voters refuse to play ball. It’s almost as if they believe their climate dogma can simply overpower voters’ practical needs. One wonders if they’ve ever had to fix a leaky pipe or figure out how to cook dinner without gas.
As the Biden-Harris administration gears up to publish yet another climate study, it appears more like a last-minute play to salvage a flagging agenda than a genuine concern for the environment. The predictions about LNG exports may not sit well with the incoming Trump administration, but one has to ponder: Is the administration really unveiling groundbreaking insights, or are they just dragging their feet because the voters are not following the climate narrative down the rabbit hole?
The old saw about “the people have spoken” might finally apply here—at least in a few of those surprisingly liberal pockets where common sense still prevails. The question lingering on everyone’s mind is whether the future will have a healthy dose of fossil fuels or just more emails from the Climate Change Committee wishing they had paid attention to the voters first. With a new administration on the horizon, the 2024 horizon looks ready to favor energy independence and a halt to the climate alarmism that has dominated the conversation for too long.
